The big four supermarkets have been accused of refusing to pass on fuel savings of around 10p per litre to drivers, despite petrol prices falling to the lowest level for the past six months.
The average price of a litre of the fuel in the UK fell by nearly 7p to 162.9p in September as oil prices plummeted, saving drivers more than £3.50 a tank.
September’s price drop was the sixth biggest monthly fall in average petrol prices since 2000. However, motoring organisation RAC said that drivers would have seen a further 10p cut in petrol prices at the pump, if major retailers had not been hiking up their profit margins.
RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: “Drivers really should have seen a far bigger drop as the wholesale price of delivered petrol was around 120p for the whole month. This means forecourts across the country should have been displaying prices around 152p, given the long-term margin on unleaded is 7p a litre.”
“In stark contrast to this, RAC Fuel Watch data has shown margins to be around 17p a litre – a huge 10p more than normal.”
Supermarkets normally charge around 3.5p per litre less than the UK average but are currently only around 1.5p cheaper.
Williams also highlighted that Morrisons is offering discounted fuel for customers who spend a certain amount of money in store. He described the promotion as one which is only seen “when supermarkets are benefitting from lower wholesale prices”.
He urged drivers to “shop around for the best deals” rather than “simply assuming” supermarkets are the cheapest fuel retailers because they have been in the past.
The sentiment is echoed by FairFuel UK founder Howard Cox, who estimates that between 10 and 20p per litre has not been passed onto drivers at the pumps by “opportunistic profiteers” who are “taking advantage of the recent weak pound”.
The association is also calling for the chancellor to cut fuel duty by 20p per litre to help reduce the cost-of-living crisis, stimulate the economy and stop allowing the fuel supply chain to “continue to exploit drivers”.
